I Could Never Forget You
by cinders44
Summary: Grace Salvatore, the sister of Damon and Stefan, receives a phone call one day from Damon pleading her to come home to Mystic Falls for help with Klaus. What Damon doesn't know is the complicated history Grace and Klaus share. Klaus holds Grace's heart like nobody ever has. Grace is torn between the man she loves, who just might love her, and her family.
1. Little Do You Know

**Hello! I'm cinders44 and this is my second TVD fanfic. My original one** ** **( _Redemption_ )** is on a bit of a hiatus right now so I can focus on this, but please check it out if you want to! Please review with any suggestions you have or any comments in general! I love to hear from you! Thanks so much!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Damon and Stefan throw Elijah's desiccated body on the rough ground of their basement floor. Damon bends down and searches Elijah's pockets for something. After a moment of searching, he finds what he was looking for. "Well, what do we have here? Our little moonstone bar of soap. I'll hold onto this." He says and puts the small clear stone in his pocket.

Elena speaks for the first time since plunging the dagger into Elijah's heart at her family's lake house. " So that's it? I mean, as long we keep the dagger in there, then he stays dead?"

Damon replies. "Pretty much."

"Okay, then. Goodnight." She says and turns to walk out of the room. Damon and Stefan follow her when she suddenly turns around. "You know, you guys want me to fight? Fine, I'll fight. But if we're going to do this, you can't keep anything from me anymore. From this moment on, we're doing it my way."

Damon and Stefan share an apprehensive look. "Seems fair." Damon begrudgingly says.

Elena turns to Stefan for his response and after a second, he says "Okay."

"Okay." Elena turns and walks upstairs, leaving the two brothers alone with Elijah's body.

"You know what we have to do, Stefan." Damon says once Elena is out of earshot. He turns to Stefan with a hard look on his face, as if this statement was something he had been both avoiding saying and what he wanted to say most in the world. "Its the only way, now."

Stefan understands exactly what his brother is saying without any specifics. "I've been thinking the same thing lately. Elena's going to be pissed. Why didn't we just call her six months ago?"

Damon sighs. "I don't know, brother. But, we can't put this off anymore. She might be able to help. If not, Elena still needs to at least meet our sister."

* * *

I walk into the only bar in a fifty mile radius. I sit down at the bar and order a drink. I look around the bar for my meal. There is a group of twenty-something girls, with one wearing a large puffy pink veil and the rest wearing sashes that say either "Bridesmaid" or "Maid of Honor", clearly a bachelorette party. There is a group of truckers playing pool. There is one creepy guy with thinning hair at the end of the bar who is already eyeing me and making me uncomfortable. There are two people sitting in the booth in the corner, probably on a blind date. And, besides the few employees, that is the end of the clientele of this bar. I decide on the bikers. It's always fun to watch big, bulky guys realize they're not stronger than a five foot six woman.

My drink comes and I down it in one gulp. I am about to get up when my phone rings. It's an unknown number, so I press "Accept."

"Hello?" I say as I sit back down.

"Grace?" A very familiar voice answers. "Is that you?"

"What the hell, Damon? How did you get this number?" I stand up and start walking out of the bar. I notice out of the corner of my eye that the creepy guy from the bar is following me. I internally roll my eyes at that.

"It's really you. Why does Elijah have your number, sis?" Damon doesn't sound angry, just mystified.

"That is none of your business. Why are you calling me?"

"We need your help, Grace." Damon sounds like this pains him to admit, which isn't surprising. Damon has never once admitting he needed anyone's help, at least not to my knowledge.

"Who's we, Damon?" I ask.

"Stefan and I are in a bit of a sticky situation."

I sigh. "What happened? Is it Katherine, Ripper Stefan, or Klaus?"

"What?" Damon sounds shocked, which means I'm probably right about what the "sticky situation" is.

"Well, you would only call me for a few things. Least likely, you finally figured out Katherine was never in that tomb, and she's in love with Stefan. And now she's trying to get Stefan by ruining your lives because that is what she thinks "flirting" is. More likely, Stefan turned off his humanity and you need my help to get him to stop being a dick murderer. However, most likely, since you mentioned Elijah, you pissed off an Original and the Original who is most likely to get pissed off is Klaus, so... How did I do, brother."

"It's Klaus." He says after a few seconds.

I pinch the bridge of my nose to try to stop the Klaus-induced headache I can already feel coming on. "Where are you?"

"Home."

"Of course you are. Is Klaus there?" I ask. I cannot decide what I want the answer to be.

"Not yet, but he's coming. And we need your help." Damon sounds truly scared of Klaus. Nik must be pretty pissed. Like, hybrid-curse level pissed.

"I'm on my way. I'll be there tomorrow. You're lucky I'm in Tennessee." This is honestly one of the last things I wanted to be doing. It was the perfect storm of shit. My brothers, who I hadn't seen together at the same time since the 90s. Mystic Falls, my hometown that I honestly have never really liked being in. And Niklaus Mikaelson. He was the biggest problem. I knew myself well and I knew I was running into a situation where I will probably be depressed for the next year, at least. Probably five. Maybe ten. "See you soon, brother. Have my room ready, please. I might get in late tomorrow night."

I hang up and start to walk to the car. I had a long drive ahead of me. I hear someone come up behind me. Next thing I know, there's a knife at my throat and the creepy guy from the bar is behind me. "If you scream, I'll kill you."

Before he knows what's happened, I pull him in a spin over my shoulder and my teeth have dug into his neck.

* * *

I pull into the Salvatore Boarding House driveway around 10 the next morning. I had driven until about 2 am the night before, and then slept for a few hours in the backseat. I wasn't too tired, a perk of being a vampire. I take a deep breath and get out of the car. I hadn't been there in almost twenty years. It was strange being back.

I open the door and call out. "Damon? Stefan?" I try to step into the house, but I can't. I'm hit by an invisible brick wall, the wall that shows that a vampire can't enter a house. "Seriously?" I yell out. "Thanks for the warning guys!"

I go back to my car and drive into town. I check the Grill, but no Damon. I try to think of other places they might be. _Stefan might have enrolled in high school again, I guess._ I think. It's a pretty tentative lead, but I drive to the school anyway. If Stefan had come back to make a home for a few years, he would have started as early as he could, so saying he's high school age makes sense. I ask someone where the front office is and find the receptionist. "Hello." I say politely. "Is there a Stefan Salvatore enrolled here?"

She doesn't even look up at me. "I can't give out that information."

"Excuse me, I don't think you heard me." I say, getting her to look me in the eye. "Is there a Stefan Salvatore enrolled here?"

"Yes." She says blankly.

"Good. Now give me his class schedule." She clicks a few buttons on her computer and then hands me Stefan's schedule. I look at his classes and see that he has history with a Mr. Saltzman in five minutes. I ask the receptionist for directions to the classroom and compel her to forget me. About a minute later, I turn a corner and see Stefan walking into a classroom with a skinny brunette girl. I roll my eyes at that. Stefan has such a type. And it's girls who look like Katherine.

"Grace?" I hear an unfamiliar voice behind me. I turn to see a man who is about to walk into the classroom staring at me. He is definitely the teacher. Even if the briefcase hadn't given it away.

"Um, yes? Do I know you?" I ask.

"Oh, no." He seems flustered. Like he made some mistake. "You don't, love. I'm a friend of your brothers, Alaric Saltzman." He says and offers me his hand. I shake it and recognize _that_ handshake right away. He winks quickly and walks into the classroom. I don't walk into the classroom with him. I run around until I find a bathroom. I run into a stall and quickly close the door. I sit down and put my hands between my knees. The first time I had felt that handshake was almost 90 years earlier...

* * *

 **Chicago, 1922**

My heals made a clicking noise while I walked towards Gloria's bar. I saw who I was looking for getting out of a car. He started walking towards the entrance of the speakeasy and I followed a few feet behind. He showed the guard who he was, and the door opens. I followed in his footsteps, careful not to let him see me. I might have been pissed at my brothers, but I made an effort to make sure I checked up on them every once in a while. And what I had noticed right away was that Stefan was off the deep end. Worse than he'd ever been. I'd heard horror stories about him. Stories so unbelievably horrifying they sounded like they were old wives tales you tell to your children around a campfire. He'd earned himself quite a few nicknames. My personal favorite was the Ripper of Monterray.

I heard music and laughter coming from inside and walked in to see a full band playing on a stage, couples twirling around a dance floor, and booths and tables set up throughout. I didn't see Stefan anymore, so I went to get a drink at the bar. At the bar, I saw a man get up and turn around. I immediately couldn't stop staring. He was so handsome, with dark blonde wavy hair gelled back and deep blue eyes. He saw me staring and I quickly blushed and walked away. I went up to the bar and ordered a drink. Prohibition had made it so easy to get alcohol. And had made it so much more fun. The mysterious man was running through my mind as I took a seat.

"This one's on me." A voice from behind me said and I saw a hand put down money on the counter and the bartender picked it up. I turned around to see the mysterious benefactor of my liquor and saw the man from before who had so captured my attention.

"Thank you." I said. "To what do I owe the pleasure of a man such as yourself buying me a drink?"

He smiled and my heart took off. "I was hoping you would honor me with a dance." He offered me his hand and I took it.

"You're very chivalrous, my good sir." I said as we walk to the dance floor. "Might I know your name?"

"Niklaus Mikaelson." He said with a mischievous glint in his eye as he puts one hand on my waist and the other grabs my hand. After a minute he asked, "Will I get your name?"

I laughed. "If you earn it." When the song ended, I broke out of Niklaus' arms. "This was lovely. Thank you for the dance, Niklaus." I walked away and leave him on the dance floor. Before I got too far, I feel someone gently grab my arm.

"Please tell me your name." Niklaus pleaded when I turn around.

"Find me at the end of the night and I might tell you." I smiled and walked away. I went into the room I saw Stefan go into and saw him kissing some blonde girl over a dancer who was bleeding out of both sides of her neck.

"Hello, Stefan." I said to get his attention. "Whose this?"

"Grace?" He said as he pulled away from the girl but does not get out of the booth.

The girl just laughed. "Whose this, Mr. Salvatore? A jealous lover?"

I stared the girl down. "Grace Salvatore, his sister." Her expression does not change.

Suddenly, Niklaus was in the room with us. "So that's your name, love. I see you have met my sister, Rebekah." He turned to his sister and my brother. "So this is the famous Stefan Salvatore I've been hearing so much about. You're right, he does have funny hair." I chuckled under my breath and Nik turned to me with a small smile on his face for a second before he wiped it off.

Then, Stefan made a show of masculinity and took an aggressive step towards Niklaus.

Rebekah intervened. "Stefan, don't. He'll kill you. Nik's a lot stronger than he looks."

"Nik, huh?" I said to him. Nik just shruged.

Stefan spoke up in that voice he only gets when his humanity is off. "What are you doing here, Gracie?"

My blood boiled. "I will kill you if you call me that one more time. I'm here to check up on my brother. Can't I show a little familial concern?"

"I don't care about you. Stop bothering me and my date." At this, even Rebekah took a step away from him.

"That's very rude to say to family, Stefan." Rebekah said. I was touched at that somewhat kind statement from a stranger. We shared a nod and then turn back to Stefan.

"I forgot how rude you are when you are being a ripper." I say. "All I wanted was to check to make sure you weren't dying or something. But, now I don't care about you, either." As I said those words, I knew they were not true, but Stefan was too much a dick for me to be rational.

"Good riddance." Stefan said through his teeth.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Nik was pissed at Stefan and about to do something, but I beat him to it. I vamp-sped up to Stefan and slammed his head on the table as hard as I could. Stefan fell to the ground, unconscious with blood pouring out of his head. "That's better." I said and then walked out of room and out of the bar.

I heard the door open behind me as I start to walk down the street. "Grace!" Nik calls.

I turn around and face him. "What, Nik?" I snapped as tears streamed down my face. "I'm sorry. That was rude. I'm just..."

Nik looked at me full of understanding. "I know. There's nothing worse than when family rejects you."

I just nodded, not trusting my voice.

"Please, come back here tomorrow. I'll make sure Stefan isn't rude to you."

"Why do you want me to come back?" I asked after a few moments.

"Well, anyone who can handle herself that well around such an awful family is someone I want to get to know."

I smiled and said, "Maybe."

He offered me a hand and I took it. He squeezed my hand reassuringly twice, and I knew he did that so I would look in his eyes and see that I was not alone.

* * *

Back in the bathroom stall, I'm caught up in all the memories I have of Nik, both good and bad. In my mind, I'm back in Gloria's bar twirling on the dance floor in his strong arms. I take out my phone and try calling Elijah. No answer, again. I stay in the stall for a long time, getting over the sudden emotional onslaught. I had known I would see Nik again, but I guess I'd pushed the reaction I would have out of my mind. I had refused to think about it, and now it's biting me in the ass.

When I finally get out, I check my hair and makeup in the mirror, walk out of the bathroom, and try not to hyperventilate as I walk towards the history classroom. I hear the bell ring as I turn the last corner. The students file out of the classroom, but no Stefan. I walk into the classroom and heard him talking to the teacher and two girls. "...is now in her name so no vampires can get in. It's a safe house for Elena."

My jaw drops to the floor when I see the girl standing next to Stefan. It's Katherine Pierce. Without thinking, I have her pinned against the wall within a second. "What the hell, Katherine?" I spit through my teeth. Katherine is doing a good job of pretending to be hurt by being pinned against the wall.

"Grace!" Stefan is behind me pulling me away. I let him pull me back and drop Katherine to the floor. "That's not Katherine!"

"What?" I ask, mystified. "A human doppelganger?" I inadvertently turn to 'Alaric' and know at once the reason he was in Mystic Falls. And the reason I was. I groan and put my head in my hands. I am immediately assaulted by a violent pain in my head. I scream out in pain and fall to the ground. I know this was magic, but all my head can think about is the pain and screaming.

"Bonnie, stop! STOP! STOP!" Stefan shouts. The pain recedes until it is gone.

"What is going on, Stefan?" The girl I thought was Katherine says. Stefan doesn't look at her. He bends down to the floor so he's on my eye level. We are staring into each others eye's. It's been so long since I'd seen him.

We both break into huge grins and start laughing. "I'm sorry I've been MIA for the past decade, Stef."

"I'm sorry I haven't tried to find you, Grace." We stop laughing and get up. I go right into his arms and hug him.

"Stefan, who is this?" The other girl asks.

Stefan takes a deep breath and says, "Elena, Bonnie, Ric, this is my sister, Grace."


	2. In Too Deep

**New Orleans, 1942**

I walked into the bar with Stefan and Lexi. "It's ok, Stefan. You've come so far. You can do this. It's just Damon." I said to comfort him.

"Just Damon?" He looked at me incredulously.

"Point taken. Sorry." I said.

"No, she's right, Stefan." Lexi said. "He's your brother."

"Ok. Let's do it." He said and walked over to the bar with Lexi and I. Lexi had tracked me down a few days earlier and told me that Stefan needed Damon and I. I was honestly still mad at him for all that happened in the 20s, but Stefan did not even remember it and he wasn't himself then, so I said okay. He tapped Damon on the shoulder and he turned around.

Damon stood up. "You look like some people I used to know."

"Hello, Damon." I said. I hadn't seen him in eighty years. Since right after we turned.

"You here to put a stake in my heart, little sister?"

"No, Damon. I'm here for moral support." I said.

"I'm here to bury the hatchet." Stefan said and offered Damon his hand. "All the three of us have is each other. We shouldn't lose that."

Damon shook his hand and he and Stefan hugged quickly and then Damon hugged me. "I'm sorry for abandoning you, Grace." He whispered in my ear.

I looked into his eyes that were more sincere than I'd ever seen them. "Thank you for that." I whispered back.

"Drinks on me!" Damon said. "Well, I'll just compel the bartender, but you get the general spirit of the offer."

We laughed and sat down at the bar. Three hours later, we started talking about Stefan's upcoming tour in Egypt. "You're finally going to get to see the pyramids." Damon said.

"Well, I don't think I'll do much sightseeing driving ambulances on the front lines, but yeah, Egypt."

Damon suddenly smiled. "Do you think they have room for another driver? I could handle some war if it meant spending some quality time with my little brother."

Stefan replied, "Tell you what, I'll talk to my C.O. I'm gonna get us another round."

I went with Stefan to get the drinks, leaving Lexi and Damon alone. When we got back, I raised my glass to propose a toast. "To family." I said. We all drank and I continued, "Guys, I have an idea. Ten years from whenever this war ends, we meet back home. We go to the local bar, and have actual family time."

Damon and Stefan looked at each other and then at me. "That is a great idea. Let's do it!" Damon said.

We all drank to that and in that moment, I really believed that we would soon be a family again. Some dreams just aren't meant to be, though.

* * *

"What?" Elena says. "You have a sister? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I'm sorry. Stefan, who is this? A human doppelganger is impossible. The Petrova bloodline died with Katherine." I say.

"Katherine had a baby out of wedlock before she met Klaus." He explains. "Grace, this is Elena. She's my girlfriend."

"Really?" I say. "I've gotta say, Stef. You've sure got a type. A very specific type. Very specific. Oddly specific. Disturbingly specific." I offer Elena my hand as a sign of peace. She stares at it for a few seconds then finally timidly shakes it. "Why didn't you tell her about me? Does anyone in this town know I exist besides you and Damon?"

"Well, no." He answers quietly.

"Good to know. I'm feeling the sibling love now, I really am." I say with heavy sarcasm. "Well, now I know why you asked me to come here."

"You asked her to come here?" Elena is staring Stefan down. "After all that happened? After I asked you for honesty and you agreed? You promised no more lying!"

"She can help, Elena. We had to." Stefan pleads.

"Had to? Really?" I say. That one stung. It was an old wound, being rejected by my brothers, but it still hurt.

"You know I don't mean it like that." Stefan looks from me to Elena. He eventually stops at me and silently pleads for help.

"I have to go find Damon. By the way, why can't I get into my own house?" I ask, changing the subject.

"They put the deed in my name." Elena says.

"Oh, right. That's what you were talking about before." I say, remembering the conversation from when I walked in. "In that case, may I enter my own home?"

Elena doesn't make eye contact with me. "Yes." She says quietly.

"Thank you, Elena. I'm sorry for freaking out when I saw you. Katherine and I aren't exactly on good terms." I said.

"It's okay. It's not like it hasn't happened before." She says with the smallest of smiles on her face.

I chuckle under my breath and start to walk out of the classroom. When my back is turned to the rest of the room, I mouth to Nik, "Later," and give him a serious look. Once I get to my car I decide to drive home and take a shower. I'd driven all night and felt gross. And, I needed the warm water to work out the knots in every single one of my muscles. Seeing Nik again, even in some strangers body, was messing with my head. No, the problem was I couldn't get him out of my head. All of the things that had happened between him and me. I'd spent the past decade trying to get him out of my head, unsuccessfully it would seem.

As I drive home, I try to focus all my thoughts on driving. I eventually reached the boarding house, after twenty minutes of only thinking about Nik. I grab my stuff from the car and walk to the entrance of my home. I can get through the door this time and call out Damon's name. No answer, so I walk to my room. It looks the exact same as I'd left it over fifteen years ago. Nothing had changed, down to the book I'd been reading at the time on the bedside table. The only change in the room was a change of sheets on the bed, obviously done recently. Probably right after I agreed to come back.

I throw my bags at the foot of the bed and walk into the bathroom. No towels, shampoo, conditioner, soap, or anything else really. _Damon's bathroom is the best in the house_ … I think and decide to go for it. Damon's bedroom is easily the nicest in the house. It fit him. His shower was also amazing. He'd made some improvements since I'd last been here. There was now multiple jets and new tiling. It was honestly the best shower I'd had in years. Damon's shampoo was quite fancy, as was his conditioner. I made a mental note to make fun of him for that later.

I stay in the shower until the hot water runs out, but the pit in my stomach is as big as ever. I turn the water off, get out, and grab a towel. The only one Damon has is wet, so I use it to wipe off the excess water and search around in Damon's room for a t-shirt. I find one, throw it on and walk to my room. As I walk, I hear voices coming from the living room. Remembering what I'm wearing, I go grab some pants from my room.

"Damon?" I say as I come into the living room. In the room are Elena, Stefan, Damon, and Bonnie. Everyone turns towards me, and I see Damon. "Hi." I say timidly.

"Grace." He says. He runs up to me, picks me up and twirls me around. "Hey, little sis. Are you wearing my shirt?" He chuckles. Just then, the door opens and "Alaric" walks in.

"Well, the only towel in your bathroom was wet. Is something wrong? You guys seem tense." I say when Damon puts me down.

"Klaus made his first move." Damon says, then turns to 'Alaric'."I'm gonna need you to put me and Grace down as a chaperones for tonight's dance."

"What did he do? Somebody catch me up, please." I say.

Elena says, "Today at lunch, our friend came up to us and said that a super hot guy named Klaus wanted me to save him the last dance." I should win an Oscar for not laughing at that and giving away that I know Klaus. He owes me big for not coming right out with what I know.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" I say.

"Me. I'm the plan." Bonnie speaks up. "He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him."

"How will we do that?" Stefan asks. "Katherine had a point. We don't even know what he looks like." I'm about to say that I know Klaus and reveal everything when 'Alaric' catches my eye and

"Wait. Katherine? She's in Mystic Falls?" I say.

"Well, yes. We think. Klaus took her." Bonnie says.

"Alright, then. Well, we can add handle dopplebitch to the to-do list. First, where's Elijah?" I say. "You mentioned him when you called me. He hasn't returned my calls for a while." I wasn't worried about something really bad happening to Elijah, obviously. He's an Original, and is much more than capable of taking care of himself. But, the fact that he was not returning my calls was worrisome.

They all look away from me, except Nik. "How well do you know Elijah?" Stefan asks.

"Very well. He's my best friend. Why?" I ask, put off by the way Stefan asks the question.

"Before we tell you where he is, you have to promise not to do something stupid." Damon says.

"That depends on your definition of stupid, big brother." I spit back. "What did you do?"

Elena says. "He's an Original. We can't trust him."

"You didn't." I say, horrified. "You did not dagger Elijah. Please tell me you did not do something so extraordinarily foolish."

"We had to." Damon says unapologetically. "Like Elena said. He can't be trusted."

"The incompetency in this room is astounding. Elijah is a noble man. The most honorable person you will ever meet. Where was he staying?" I ask.

"What?" Bonnie says.

"Where was he living? Where are his things?" I repeat myself.

"Why?" Damon asks.

"Because he had a spell to let the doppelganger survive the sacrifice. He got it for Katherine before she ran. Never even got a chance to tell her about it." I explain. "If Elijah was here for you Elena, and it would be absurd if he would be here for any other reason, he obviously had it with him."

Elena breaks into a smile. "That means everything is going to be okay." She says. "Nobody will die for me."

"How do you know this?" Damon asks. "How is an Original your best friend?"

"That is a long story for another time." I say. "For now, we need a plan for the dance tonight."

"So you're not going to try and undagger him?" Damon says.

"What? No." I respond. "He's going to be so pissed at you when he does get undaggered, though. I'll undagger him when I have time to calm him down so he won't hurt you."

They seem surprised by my response. They probably thought I would undagger Elijah right away. "So what are we going to do about Klaus tonight at the dance?" 'Alaric' asks.

"We have to find him first." Damon responds.

I chime in. "We look for the person we don't recognize and then use Bonnie. Are you sure you can handle channeling that much power? Do you have someone or something to channel?" I didn't know a ton about witches, but I knew that a single witch couldn't do it on their own, no matter how powerful. It would kill them, without channeling other witches or a powerful element.

"I have the power. I can kill. I know I can." Bonnie seems very determined to kill Klaus. I could tell she was one of those annoying witch elitists who thought t that they could do no wrong as long as their backward-ass ancestors thought it was okay and that vampires were always without question evil and that no vampire could ever have feelings or deserve to live. They condemned vampires without a second glance. Not all witches were like that, to be fair. I'd met some of Nik's witches and they weren't like that. But, this Bonnie girl was. _Hm, she looks like Emily Bennet..._ I think.

"Are you a Bennet witch?" I ask.

"Yes, I am." She says without looking at me.

"Alright, so tonight when we find Klaus, we kill him." Damon says. "And we have the spell Elijah has as a backup."

"Ok." We all say, and I share a look at the fake history teacher standing next to me.

* * *

 **Chicago, 1922**

A few nights after the confrontation with Stefan, I went back to Gloria's. I went back because Nik asked me to and because deep down I was secretly hoping that Stefan would apologize. But, his humanity was off. He wasn't the brother I knew anymore.

When I walk into the bar and a slow song was playing. I saw Rebekah and Stefan on the dance floor, looking very happy. Nik looked on from a booth and I saw a small smile form on his lips. I walked over to his booth and another small smile formed on his lips when he sees me. He motioned for me to sit down and I did.

"I didn't think you were going to come back." He said.

"I wasn't." I replied. "But he's family." I looked over at Stefan twirling on the dance floor.

"I understand what that's like, love." Nik said. He looked over at me and into my eyes. I looked back and saw so much depth. "I know what it's like to have family treat you like you're nothing."

"Really? So who was it with you? Sibling or parent?" I replied.

"Parent." He said, almost reluctantly.

"You don't have to talk about it." I said and relief is plain in his features. He was definitely worried I would push too hard into the subject, but that was not what either of us needed at that moment.

At that moment, we both heard it. The Chicago police were about to invade the speakeasy. Nik looked angry and finished his drink in one sip. I could not understand what he was angry about. It was not like the police could have done anything to us. "Time to go." He said. "Get out of here, love. It's not safe for vampires."

The way he said it made it seem like he was the vampire in danger more than vampires in general. "Is this about you?" I asked. He looked shocked then enraged that I'd guessed correctly. "It's okay." I said. "Just find Rebekah and get out. And please protect Stefan. I'll stall them for you."

"What?" He said. He looked at me like I'd just grown giant elephant ears or something.

"Just go, Nik!" I yelled as I was walking away. I walked up to a random person, and gave him the knife I had with me at all times. "Go stab the first police officer you find." I compelled him.

I ran to the bar and reached over and grabbed the first bottle of alcohol I could find. I luckily saw a bow of matches that someone had left on the counter and pour the alcohol on the bar and set it on fire. It would burn quickly and not do any real damage to the stone counter of the bar. I looked around to see people running out of the place everywhere, but no Nik, Stefan, or Rebekah in sight. I joined the throng of people running from the building and blended in with the crowd.

After about half an hour, most of the people had run far away. The fire had long been put out and there are people inside assessing the damage done to the bar. The man I had compelled had created quite a stir. And quite a distraction. Nobody had been hurt, but the man who had tried to stab the police office had been arrested. I walked back into the bar out of curiosity. I saw the necklace I had noticed Rebekah wearing lying on the floor. Steps come up from behind me, and I turned around to see who it was.

I saw a well-dressed man in probably his fifties standing in front of me. "Hello, miss. Chicago PD."

"Hello. How can I help you?" I said as politely as I could. Something about this man irritated me.

"Have you seen these two people?" He said and showed me a drawing of Nik and Rebekah.

"Never seen them before in my life." I lied as smoothly as I could.

"You sure?" He replied. "Look again."

I looked down at the paper and pretended to study it. "I guess they look like these two people I would see in here a few times. Haven't seen them in a few days though."

He thought over my answer for a minute. "Fine. How about you, kid? Seen these two?" He turned to someone standing behind me, and I turned around and saw Stefan.

"Never seen them before in my life." He said with the utmost confidence. I could always tell when Stefan was lying. And he was not. He really believed he had never seen those people before in his life.

"Alright." The police officer said and then left.

Stefan turned to me. "What are you doing here, Grace?"

"I'm checking up on you. It's seems I arrived in Chicago just in time." I lied because the police officer was still in earshot. "What are you doing with your humanity off?" I said as I led Stefan away from the other people in the bar. I looked up just in time to see something I was truly not expecting. Katherine Pierce was standing in the doorway. She motioned for me to follow her, while Stefan was looking in a different direction and never saw her.

* * *

After the meeting with the local Scooby gang, I go up to my room and dry my hair. I look like Damon. I have black hair and blue eyes. My hair was long for a long time, but now it's about shoulder length, a few inches longer maybe since it's grown out. I was 21 when I became a vampire, so that is the age I will look for the rest of my life. I walk upstairs to Stefan's room. which has a door that leads up to the attic where all my stuff from the 60s is.

"Your relatives were such packrats." I hear Elena say. "Okay, so what do you think? Twiggy or Sexy Hippie?"

"Sexy hippie, for sure." I say when I walk into the room. Elena looks embarrassed that I caught her going through my stuff. "You can borrow anything you want from there, Elena. Although, don't judge me too harshly. Some of that stuff was in style back then."

Elena laughs and I can almost sense her thawing to me. Although, I don't know why I was trying to get her to like me. Shouldn't it be the other way around? "Thanks. Wait. I think I remember seeing something that I thought would be perfect for you. One second." She rifles through the box and pulls out my favorite dress from back then.

"That is actually what I was coming up here to get. You have a great eye for fashion, Elena. Thanks." I walk over and take the dress from her. I turn to Stefan and say, "You look very dapper, Stefan."

"Why, thank you very much, Grace." He says. "But I'm not dancing with you tonight. Ask Damon."

I smile because he saw right through my act. "One dance. You're not getting out of it this time, little brother."

"Not going to happen, Grace." He says back determinedly.

"If Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones comes on, Stefan, I will not take no for an answer." I say and then walk out of the room before he protests. I run into Damon on the way down. "You'll dance with me won't you, Damon?"

"Of course, little sis." He says and then takes my hands and starts dancing with me right there. "And that's why I'm the fun brother." He says, obviously so Stefan will here.

About a half hour later, I insist on taking my own car to the dance. I said I needed to go to the drug store to buy toothpaste, deoderant, shampoo, etc for my bathroom to cover up where I was actually going. I looked up Alaric Saltzman's address on the internet and drove there. I go up to the apartment and knock on the door. The door opens a second later and I see 'Alaric' open it. "Hello, Nik." I say.

"Hello, Grace. Please come in." He says and invites me in with a hand gesture. "We need to talk about..."

"I know." I cut him off before he can finish his sentence. I step further into the apartment.


	3. Tell Me Why

**A/N: Hello amazing readers! Your reviews are so kind and the number of follows and favorites is absolutely amazing! I have an extra long chapter for you today (almost double usual!) so please enjoy and review if and when you can! Thank you so much! I would love to hear what you guys think is coming up! I also LOVE suggestions about what you guys want to see, so please PM me or review with any suggestions and if they work with the story I will do my best to incorporate them!  
**

 **~cinders44**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing. :'(**

* * *

 **Mystic Falls, 1955**

I walked into the Grille on May 8th, 1955, exactly ten years since the end of World War II. Damon and Stefan were not there yet, so I got a table and sat down. I was really looking forward to seeing them again. The deal we had made in New Orleans over ten years earlier had kept me going through a particularly lonely decade.

Over the next few hours, I looked at the door exactly every thirty seconds. I had gotten there a little late, and hoped they'd already be there. With every passing hour, old wounds were opened. I finally got up when I couldn't take it anymore and went to the bathroom. When I got back, there was someone in my booth, but it wasn't either of my brothers.

He turned around and saw me. He got up from the booth where I had been sitting and came up to me. "Hello, Grace." He said timidly, unsure of what my reaction to him will be.

"Hello, Niklaus." I said cordially. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I never thanked you for saving my life in 1922." He said. "I'm not used to be saved by other people. This is uncharted terriotry for me, love."

"I can tell." I noticed that he was clearly uncomfortable. "Would you like to have dinner with me?" I said and gestured to the table.

"I'd love to." He said and we sat down. "So, what brings you to Mystic Falls of all places?" He said to change the subject.

"I grew up here and I was here to meet my brothers." I said simply. The past tense was like a knife in the heart.

"Was?" He said.

"Well, they're a little late." I said, defeated. "I wish I could say this is the first time they haven't been here for me."

"Tell me." He said.

"It's a long story. And not one with a happy ending." I said. "You don't have to feel obligated to be nice to me or repay me for saving you. I didn't even really do anything. You would have gotten away anyway."

"True." He said with a twinkle in his eye. "But, he took me by surprise. I was scrambling. You bought me some time. And risked your life for me. I'll never be able to repay you for that."

"You don't have to." I said. "So, tell me, if you don't mind. If it's too personal, feel free to not answer. But, I have been very curious for the past thirty years. Who was that man who showed me a drawing of you and Rebekah?"

I could see anger and fear flash in his eyes. "That is too personal."

I tried to not push it. "That's fine. So, I'm guessing you haven't seen Stefan since that night. He's super boring now. All sobered up and back to his brooding self."

He smiled. "That's a shame."

"Yeah, but at least he's not a murdering dick who insults me to my face now." I said jokingly and laughed. The responding smile from Nik told me that we had gotten past the question I had asked.

Three hours later, I hadn't looked at the door for my brothers even once. I was having too much of a good time with Nik. He was really quite funny. Especially when he got a few drinks in him. I noticed the time and was debating whether to go home or not when a band started playing and some people got up to dance. Nik got up and offered me a hand. I happily took it.

"Just like when we met." He said.

"I suppose it is." I replied. We danced for an hour without stopping, never tiring thanks to vampire strength. He made me laugh so easily, and I relished the way he tilted his head back when he truly laughed. I loved making him look so happy. Eventually, the band played the last song, and the Grille was closing. "Thank you for a wonderful night, Nik."

"You're welcome, love." We walked outside and it was a lovely spring night. "Grace?"

"Yes?" I asked.

"Earlier, when you asked me about the man who asked about my sister and me, I'm sorry I snapped at you. You were being so kind about it." Nik looked uncomfortable apologizing. It was obviously something he did not do often. Or ever.

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me anything about him." I replied.

"I know, but you deserve to know." Nik took a deep breath and said, "He is my father."

"What?" I said.

"It's a long story." And he was not kidding about that. He spent the next twenty minutes telling me about Mikael. "So, I've been running from him for a very long time."

"That is awful, Nik. I'm so sorry. No one should ever be treated the way he treated you." I tried to comfort him.

"Thank you. It was a long time ago." He looked down at his watch. "I'm sorry your brothers didn't show up."

"Thanks. It's okay. I'm used to my brothers not really caring about me." I wished I could be strong and not care about that. But, when your family, the people who are always supposed to love and accept you, turn their back on you, it's impossible not to be affected.

"I'm sure they care about you. Family is just about showing how much you care in peculiar ways."

"I hope you're right." I said. I wanted to believe him he was right so much. It wasn't for another forty years that I learned he was.

* * *

I take a look around the apartment and see something wonderful. Katherine Pierce is sitting in a chair and is wearing an expression I had never seen her wear before. Fear. There was a time when I would have tried to help Katherine. That was a long, long time ago. Besides Katherine, there is a man in the kitchen who is making a drink.

"Hello, Katherine." I say to her. "I see my brothers were wrong. To be fair, I knew they were. Killing you is too kind to Nik. Although, I am curious. How did he finally capture you?"

Nik walks up behind me and says, "She put her trust in someone who didn't drink vervaine."

"Idiot." I chuckle. "What's your game here, Nik?" I turn around to Nik. "Why tell me you're in this body? You know I cannot help you."

"Can't I have motivations for revealing myself to you that aren't about this curse?" He counters and takes a step towards me.

"No." I say and unconsciously take a step towards him.

The man who was in the kitchen coughs. "All I could find. Guy likes his bourbon." He goes to hand the glass to Nik, but I reach out and take it instead.

"Knew there was something about him I liked." I say. After I chug the drink, I reach into my bag and pull out what I had brought for Nik. I throw it to him and he catches the most quintessentially 60s jacket I could swipe from Stefan's clothes. "You can wear this to the dance. Don't want you to stick out." I chuckle under my breath.

"Klaus, who is this? I saw her with the younger Salvatore and the doppelganger today." The man asks. There was no need for me to ask who he was. It was beyond obvious that this was one of Klaus' witches.

"This is Grace Salvatore." Nik says.

"Salvatore?" He questions.

"Long story." Nik and I say at the same time.

I say, "Yes. And that is why I'm trying to find out why Klaus here told me he was in a history teacher's body."

"It's just to get inside information on how your brothers are protecting the doppelganger." Nik tells me and pours himself more bourbon. "This Alaric is close to the doppelganger. And I told you because we need to talk."

"How long have you been in this body?" I avoid the question.

"Since last night." He answers, but I know he is not giving up that easily.

His presence is starting to affect me. Memories flow through my mind and I have to focus to not lose myself in memories of happier times with Nik. Those are over. The effect is definitely muted because he is not in his own body, but just being in the same room as him is making my mind foggy. All I want in the world is to get out of that room and never leave it at the same time. Katherine is looking at me. She looks broken. Scared of every movement Nik makes. It's quite pathetic for her, a woman who is defined by her confidence. Nik has put on the jacket. "What do you think?" He asks.

I laugh. "Very sixties, unfortunately." The sixties had not been my favorite decade. The Beatles had kind of saved it. I knew of Nik's mutual judgement of that particular decade.

Nik chuckles. "What if Stefan notices his jacket?"

"I'll just tell him I let 'Alaric' borrow it. I have to go. They're expecting me at the dance soon." I say. "Nik, listen. I'm not going to help you break this curse. You know that, right? Why did you not want me to tell my brother's that I know you? They're going to be pissed at me when they find out."

"I know. I know. It's just, I need a chance to talk with you about..." Nik starts.

"OK OK!" I cut him off before he can go any farther. "We will talk about that, but not right now."

"When?" He asks.

"After." I say, ending the subject. Putting off that conversation as long as possible is essential. "Nik, please be careful that night. That witch is willing to kill herself to kill you."

He laughs. "Don't worry. I'm prepared."

"I have no doubt about that. But that witch is willing to do anything to kill you." I inform him before I turn to leave. "Oh, and Nik? I'm going to need my necklace back."

* * *

I pull up in front of the school and find a parking spot. Damon is waiting for me. "Hello, little sister." He says and offers me his arm.

"So, that's Damon and Stefan's sister?" I hear an unfamiliar male voice say with my vampire hearing.

Bonnie answers. "Yes. Her name is Grace."

"What's she like?" The male voice asks.

"I'm not really sure. All I really know about her is that she's their sister and she knows a lot about the Originals. She's friends with Elijah."

"Can we trust her?"

"I'm not sure. Damon and Stefan seem so happy to have her here, so I want to." Bonnie says.

I pull myself out of their conversation and back to Damon. "Who's that with Bonnie?" I ask.

"Eavesdropping, are we?" He elbows me playfully in the ribs.

I roll my eyes and elbow him back. "Just answer the question."

"Elena's little brother, Jeremy." Damon says. We walk into the highly decorated gymnasium, which smells strongly of sweaty feet.

"Let's dance!" I say to Damon, who immediately spins me around and pulls me onto the dance floor. After a few fast dances, a slow one comes on and Damon grabs me and pulls me close.

"So, where have you been for the past decade?" He asks.

"Oh, you know. Here and there. Lot of moving around." I tell him. "What about you? Up to no good I'm sure."

"You know me. Am I ever not up to no good?"

"Not that I know of." I laugh and it is wonderful being with him and having it be so easy. I rest my head on his shoulder and see Stefan walk in with Elena, her brother, and Bonnie.

"They're here." I say to Damon and point to them. Just then, a girl gets up on stage and the song stops.

"Thanks for being here everybody!" She says and everybody cheers. "We have a special shout out tonight. This is for Elena. From Klaus."

I see the look of pure terror on everyone in our little groups face. I also see Nik standing off to the side trying his hardest not to laugh his ass off. And not doing a very good at it. I tried. I really did. I tried not to burst out laughing. But, I could feel it coming on. "There's Alaric. I'm going to go see if he's seen anything." I say to Damon and walk away before he can see my face. The second my back is turned, I can't control it anymore. And Nik watching me does not help. And then I notice what song he picked and I burst out laughing at the corny love song.

"Get it together, love. You're going to make me laugh, too." Nik whispers to me

"It's _your_ fault for choosing to make an entrance in such a funny way. Well, not funny to them." I say and collect myself, wiping a few tears away. "Okay, I'm good. I'm good. You always knew how to make me laugh." The song changes and that helps me stop the laughing.

"That I do." He says. He looks into my eyes and I cannot take my gaze away, all traces of humor gone. Damon walks up to us, breaking the spell.

"Special dedication, huh? This guy's a little twisted." Nik says when Damon gets there.

"I'm not impressed." I say.

"Me, neither."

"No?" Nik says, winking at me when Damon isn't looking.

"Let me know if you see anything out of whack." Damon says and pulls me back out to the dance floor. I see Stefan with Elena and point to them. Damon nods and walks away.

"Mind if I cut in?" I ask Elena when I get to them.

"Not at all. Caroline's here. She doesn't know what's going on." Elena goes up to a blonde girl who had just walked in as Jackie O with a boy dressed as JFK.

"I told you I'd get a dance out of you." I say as I go into Stefan's arms and we start dancing.

Stefan smiles and twirls me around. "You know I can't say no to you, Grace."

"I've missed this." I say. "Being with you and Damon. I know we haven't exactly been the closest family for the past century and a half, but whenever we are together, as infrequent as that may be, it's always so nice."

Stefan looks at me with a tortured expression. "I'm sorry for all we've done to you, Grace. We have been horrible brothers to you."

"Stefan and Damon's WHAT?" I hear a voice say with my vampire hearing. It's the girl who Elena went to talk to. Caroline.

"I know, I know. It's crazy. But, she's here now and so is Klaus." Elena says.

I look up at Stefan and say, "Who is Elena talking to, again?

"Caroline. One of her friends. Katherine turned her a while back." Stefan explains. "She's with Matt. Her boyfriend and Elena's ex who has no idea about any of this."

"Alright, good. Now I'm up to date on all things Elena." I look around the room and see Damon dancing with Bonnie. Elena and her brother are talking and Jeremy seems upset. Jeremy walking out of the room and Elena gives Stefan a look.

"I'll be right back." Stefan says, and signals to Damon to dance with me.

"Shouldn't we be doing some chaperoning or something? It seems like the adults here shouldn't be dancing." I say when Damon comes up to me. "It seems like we should be going up to grinding teenagers and sternly saying 'Leave room for the holy ghost?' with a ruler in our hand?"

Damon throws his head back and laughs. "Well, I think the other chaperones can pick up our slack." He says and then twirls me. After another song, Stefan looks angry and comes up to us. "Come here." He says and pulls us off the dance floor. "Please tell me you didn't know Bonnie was on a suicide mission."

Damon replies before I can say anything. "Oh great. Jeremy told you and of course you told Elena."

"Yeah, I told her." Stefan says. "You promised her no more secrets."

Damon gets a fierce look in his eyes. "I changed my mind." Just then, it clicked for me. Damon is in love with Elena. It makes so much sense once I knew it and I felt stupid for not figuring it out earlier. This town really hadn't changed in a hundred and fifty years. Salvatore siblings in love with a doppelganger. My mind automatically started making connections between Elena and Katherine, but I stopped them in their tracks. Making unfounded snap judgements about Elena would be a mistake. I knew my brothers would pick her over me. If I wasn't firmly on Team Elena, I would lose my brothers again. And I could not let that happen. I barely knew Elena, and while she didn't strike me as particularly different from Katherine, she also wasn't like Katherine. I pull myself out of my own mind and come back down the dance.

"Wait. You didn't know that Bonnie would die?" I say. This is actually news to me. I thought they would have had to know. No witch could channel that much power.

"You did?" Stefan says angrily.

"Of course. It's pretty common witch knowledge that you can't channel that much power without some serious consequences. I honestly thought that you knew." I was never actually nervous that Bonnie would die. Nik would find a way to survive. And if he was hurt in this history teacher's body, he would just go back to his own, or take somebody elses'.

Stefan storms off and Damon and I follow him after a shared tense look. Damon and I hear a fight breaking out in the hallway at the same time. Stefan is right in front of us, and together the three of us run towards the sound.

"Hey, idiots!" I yell and see the person that was getting beaten up. Elena's little brother, Jeremy. As we approach, they all whip out crossbows with wooden stakes in them. They shoot two stakes at us, one aimed for Damon and one aimed for me. I catch both of them no problem.

"Let me guess, Klaus says hi." Damon says. Before he is even done with 'Klaus,' I have sped up to them and half of them are on the ground, unconscious. By a few seconds after he finishes talking, the rest are unconscious on the ground. Damon and Stefan look at me with disbelief. I swear I could see pride in Damon's eyes.

"What are you staring at? Let's go find Elena." I say and run out of the room, leaving them in my dust. A few seconds later, I hear the history teacher's voice.

"I just had to get away from that dance." He chuckles. "The sixties, ugh. Not my decade. I mean, whose call was that anyway? I mean, I much prefer the twenties. The style, the parties, the jazz." At that point, I know he knows I'm listening. I walk into the room.

As I walk into the hallway, Elena says, "Alaric. Are you on vervain?"

"Now, why would you ask me that question, Elena?" Nik's eyes fall on me and don't leave. "Hello, Grace Salvatore. Now, which did you prefer? Twenties or sixties?"

I decide to lie just to mess with his head. "Sixties, obviously. I believe the twenties were ghastly. And, you can't top the Beatles."

"What is going on?" Elena and Bonnie say at the same time.

"I'll give you one hint." Nik says tauntingly, pauses for effect and then slowly says, "I am not Alaric."

"Klaus." Elena says, horrified.

"Surprise!" Nik says annoyingly.

"Bonnie, Elena, get out of here!" I say to them. "I'll handle him." I take a step forward so I'm between them and Nik. I hear them start running, but before they get to the door, Nik is flown through the air and crashes into a trophy case at the end of the hallway. Once I hear the doorway close and Elena and Bonnie walk far enough away, I walk over to him and offer him a hand.

"Thanks, love." He takes my hand and stands up. "I thought you weren't helping me."

"I'm not. Helping you up is not helping you kill my brother's girlfriend." I deadpan. "You okay, Nik?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I told you I was prepared." He starts digging around in his pocket for something. He pulls out something I hadn't seen for a decade. "I brought this with me after you mentioned it at the apartment. I've kept it since you forgot it on my bedside table."

In his hand is the heart-shaped locket that, before I left it with him, I had worn everyday for almost 150 years, ever since Emily Bennett had given it back to me in 1864. It was made of gold and had intricate carvings engraved around the locket. Inside, on one side was a miniature portrait of my family (Damon, Stefan, my mother, my father, and me) in 1855, a few months before my mother died, and on the other side was a portrait of Damon, Stefan, and me about a week before I turned. I immediately put it on and I instantly feel so much more calm. The past decade had been crap for a variety of reasons, but the necklace was definitely one of the bigger ones. "Thank you, Nik."

"That necklace is magical, isn't it?" He asks pointedly and I look at him curiously.

"Maddox could sense it had magic when I got it before I left." He explains. "So, what is it?"

"Emily Bennett put a protection spell on it as gratitude after I saved one of children's life. It protects against certain magic." I explain. I have no qualms in telling him that. Despite everything that had happened between us ten years earlier, I still felt like I could tell him anything. It was ineffable, really. There was no logical explanation for the connection that Nik and I had. Ever since we met, we could tell each other anything.

"We should get going. Your brothers will be coming any second. Or Bonnie will come back to kill me." He says.

"Okay, but can you do me a favor?" I pull out one of the knives I had hidden on my body. "Stab me?"

He is taken aback by my request, obviously. "What?"

"Well, they're not going to believe that I walked away from the big, bad Klaus unscathed." I held out the knife for him to take and he does. "I just need a little blood to get on my dress. He shrugs nonchalantly and stabs my stomach. It hurts like a bitch, and I bite my tongue to stop the scream bubbling up in my throat from escaping my lips. After a second, the pain is gone and the wound is healed. I look up at Nik and see how pained his face is. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He says and hands me back the knife as if he can't get rid of it fast. "Are you okay? Are you really hurt? I'm sorry."

"I'm fine. I asked you to do it. It doesn't hurt. I'm fine. Thank you." I turn to leave before I can think he feels bad about stabbing me, that he might care if I was hurt. Those thoughts are dangerous. It would make no sense for him to care for me. No one cared like that, they couldn't care for me. People only left. My head is swirling with memories, and one in particular stands out. Stefan in Gloria's in 1922, saying 'I don't care about you.' and 'Good riddance.'

I walk into the next hallway and see Bonnie looking very determined about something. "Get out of the way, Grace." She says.

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" I ask. I grab her hand and see the conversation between her and Damon. She was going to pretend to die so they would have the element of surprise against Klaus. But, I knew this mind-game was a two way street and Bonnie looks at me differently than she had before. She had seen what Stefan had said to me in 1922. She looks like she feels bad for me. I can see the pity in her eyes. "Go do what you have to. But, know that while you are here to protect Elena, I am here to protect my brothers, no matter what they have done to me."

She nods and stalks off down the hallway. Stefan and Elena burst into the hallway, while Damon slowly walks in from the other end.

Elena sounds absolutely panicked. "What are you doing? Where's Bonnie?" She asks and I know the question is directed to Damon.

"She's doing what she has to do." Damon answers calmly.

"What?" Elena says while at the same time Stefan says, "Where is she?"

I step to the side to not get caught in the cross-hares of this one. "I'm going to get the spell at Elijah's. Klaus knows about it now. He might try and take it. I have to go now."

"You're right! Be careful!" Damon says and Elena and Stefan run off to find Bonnie. I run in the opposite direction until I am out of Damon's eye-line and then slow to a walk. When I get to my car, I drive to the nicest hotel in Mystic Falls, and compel the concierge to give me the key. I walk into the room. It is impeccably neat, and I would expect nothing less from Elijah. I go to the closet to see if it is in the safe. There is no safe there, so I check under the bed, but still no safe. I tap my foot against different parts of the wood floor. Eventually, I find a hollow spot and lift up the loose floorboard to see that Elijah had moved the safe there. It is still locked, so I try entering in different combos. I first try his birthday, but no luck. Then, I try each of his sibling's birthdays in succession. No luck. I then try the date when they were changed to vampires. The safe flashes green and the door swings open. The spell is the only thing in the safe. I grab it and a new suit to give Elijah when he wakes up and I get out of that room.

I drive back home and see Stefan's and Damon's cars in the driveway. I walk in just in time to see Elena slap Damon. They don't hear me walk in, but I hear them talking. "You need to listen to me and prepare for what I am about to say. Bonnie had to die. Klaus using Alaric's body? Total surprise. And he wasn't going to stop and we weren't going to be able to stop him until he knew she was dead. He had to believe it. She cast a spell. Bonnie's okay." I can see the relief in Elena's eyes. I understand it, if I had thought Elijah was dead, and then found out he wasn't, I would have the same expression on my face. Damon walks out of the room without looking at me. Stefan and Elena see me and acknowledge my presence, but I leave the room to give Elena time to decompress. I walk into my room and take off my blood stained dress. I wash off the blood in the shower and put on sweatpants and a tank-top.

I tiptoe down to the basement and into the miniature cell where I had guessed they were keeping Elijah. I see that I was right when I open the door and see his desiccated body lying limp on the floor. I walk up to the body and quickly remove the dagger. I sit down and wait for him to wake up.

"What are you doing down here?" I hear Elena's voice, and it breaks me out of a daydream about Nik I was having.

"I think the better question is what are you doing?" I say and slide over so she can sit next to me.

"Probably the same thing as you. What happened to waiting to undagger him?" She asks as she sits down.

"Well, I couldn't let him just rot down here." I look at Elijah's body, and while I know that he is fine and he is going to wake up soon, it is still not a sight I am exactly okay with seeing.

"I guess we just wait now." Elena says.

"Yes." I say. "So, tell me about yourself, Elena."

* * *

 **New York City, December 13th 1999**

I had been looking forward to that gallery for weeks. I spent about an hour getting ready and picking out the right dress. I had finally landed on a short, deep blue, sleeveless, A-line dress with silver stiletto heals. I walked into the gallery when the party was already in full swing. I picked up a champagne from one of the tuxedo clad servers wandering around the space. I took a moment to figure out which painting I wanted to look at first.

I went up to one that caught my eye. It depicted a mountain side with clouds dotting the crystal blue sky. It was mesmerizing. I felt like I could almost jump into the painting and be on that beautiful mountain. I stared at it for ten minutes before I looked down at the plague with information about the painting on it for the painter's name, but found 'By Anonymous' instead.

I stared at it for another few minutes when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Nik Mikaelson, of all people. _Damn, he looks_ good _in a suit._ I thought. I immediately did not know what to do. A handshake was too formal, but a hug might have been too familiar. Before I could get too panicked, he says, "Hello Grace," and goes in for a hug. I was wrong. It was not awkward at all, it was the absolute perfect thing to do.

"Hello, Nik." I said and smiled. "What brings you here?"

He looked at the painting I had been looking at and inclined his head toward it. "Painting is a bit of a passion of mine."

"You painted this?" I asked, amazed.

"Yes." He said confidently. "I didn't want to advertise my name, so I just put it under anonymous."

"Wow. It's incredible, Nik." I said sincerely. "You are very talented."

He smiled. "Thank you. What brings you here?"

"One of the artists is a friend." I answered. "It's a nice surprise that you're here."

"Likewise." He said. "Come get a drink with me."

"Alright." I said and walked with him to the bar. We spent a while discussing the art in the gallery. I came to the conclusion that his painting was by far the best in the show. After a while, the gallery grew quite boring.

"Are you hungry, love?" Nik asked. "Would you like to get dinner?"

"I'd love to." I answered. He grabbed our coats from the coat check and we left the gallery together. He led me to one of the diners around the corner from his apartment, he explained. We were led to a booth in the back of the restaurant.

"So tell me, are you living in the city?" He asked.

"Yes, I am. I hadn't lived here since the early 60s, and this has always been one of my favorite places to live. So I found an apartment and decided to live here for a while."

He smiled. "It is one of my favorite places, as well. But for me, nothing will ever top New Orleans."

"Well, you are one of founders of that city, so I say you're a little biased." He laughed and I thought, _Is there any better sound in the world?_

"True." He admitted. The next hour was spent discussing the pros and cons of different cities, favorite films and books, and other trivial things. The conversation was so natural, flows so easily. There was never an awkward pause or uncomfortable silence.

After Nik paid the bill, we walked out onto the streets on New York. It had started snowing while we were eating and we had not noticed.

"Wow, it's so beautiful." I said.

"Yes, it is." He agreed. We walked side by side towards his apartment. When we came to the front of his building, and I was presented with the same conundrum I had faced when we ran into each other at the gallery. Neither a handshake or a hug or just a spoken goodbye felt like the right ending to the lovely night.

And once again, he solved the problem for me. And once again it was the perfect thing to do. He looked me in the eye before taking my face in his hands and kissing me passionately. It was the kiss to end all kisses. The kiss that I knew I would forever compare all kisses to. His lips were strong against mine, moving with mine and making my heart go crazy. I return the kiss immediately and eagerly. I wound my hands in his hair and felt his hands go to the small of my back as he pressed me close to him. I broke the kiss when I need air, and I rested my forehead against his. When I found my voice, I said, "Let's go upstairs."

In response, he kissed me again and grabbed my hand and led me up to his apartment. I took off my coat, gloves and scarf. He closed the door and turned to me. "You are so beautiful tonight, love."

I blushed and walked to him. I kissed him timidly at first, then he turned it into another dizzying one. I grabbed for his shirt and pulled off the tie and then started to unbutton the shirt. He picked me off the ground and pressed me against the wall. I jumped up and wrapped my legs around him. He picked me up by my full weight and carried me over to the bed before gently putting me down. I broke the passionate kisses and turn so he could unzip my dress. The dress fell to the floor and then Nik's pants were off, and then my bra and underwear were. We fall onto the bed together, and for the first time in over 140 years, I did not feel alone.


	4. Haunted

**A/N: Here's the next chapter! I'm sorry for the ridiculous wait! As always, please please please review and follow/favorite! Every single favorite/follow/review makes me so happy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

 **Chicago, 1922**

"I'm not going to sit here and be insulted by you." I told Stefan, who just shrugged and walked away, but not before he bent down and picked up Rebekah's necklace. I quickly walked to the back alley and saw Katherine standing there. She looked me up and down, and she seemed to approve of what she saw.

"Immortality still suits you, Grace." She said with an approving nod.

"Piss off, Katherine." I spat through my teeth.

"You're still mad at me for turning you and your brothers into vampires?" Katherine said innocently.

"No. I'm pissed at you for stringing both of my brother's along and making them miserable." I yelled at her. There was a time when we were friends. When she was the best friend I ever had. She taught me so many things. How to be confident in myself. How to be strong. But, after everything she did to my brother's, I was not about to forgive and forget.

"They certainly weren't miserable when I was in their beds." She said smugly.

I make a gagging noise. "Gross, Kat." I honestly almost hurled. "They are my brothers. I do not want to have those mental images in my head."

She just laughed a short, breezy, arrogant laugh. "What are you doing with Klaus?" She asked seriously after she finished laughing.

"My affairs are none of your concern." I said simply, almost daring her to continue the subject.

"Yes, they are. Despite everything, we were, are, friends. I will look out for you because I do care for you and your brothers." Katherine said.

"I don't believe that for a second." With Katherine, everything is a manipulation. But, the memories of our friendship still swirl around my mind from time to time and I know I will never forget them. However, that does not mean that I can ever trust her again.

"Well, you should. I'm only looking out for you, Grace." She does her best to look sincere, but I could see right through it. "Stay away from Niklaus Mikaelson."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Or what?"

"Or he'll kill you. He killed my entire family and he won't hesitate to do the same to you." With that, she signals a passing taxi and closes the door before I can say another word.

Could Katherine actually have a point about Nik? I started walking home to the apartment I was staying in, thinking over the events of the night. Eventually, I decide to go on with my life as if none of this had ever happened. _What are the chances I'll ever even see him again, anyway?_ I thought as I made my decision.

* * *

"Tell me about yourself, Elena." I said to make conversation while we wait for Elijah. "I figure I should get to know you if both of my brother's are in love with you."

She opens her mouth to deny it, but it's so obvious that Damon is in love with her she doesn't go through with the protest. "I'm 17. I grew up in Mystic Falls. I have a younger brother, Jeremy. My parents died a year ago in a car accident."

"I'm so sorry." I say quietly. "That's awful."

"Thanks." She says mechanically. It sounds as if she been saying the exact same thing over and over again. And I knew from my own experience with bereavement that she had. "How do you know him?" She says and inclines her head towards Elijah.

I had been dreading that question. It was a gateway question that would lead to more that I wasn't sure how I would answer, or even if I should answer them. "I met him in the 80's. We quickly became friends, and have been close ever since." I give her the simplified version.

"Just friends?" She asks with a raised eyebrow. It was not the first time I had gotten this question. Whenever Elijah came to visit me wherever I happened to be living at the time, I would always get that question from the friends I'd made at the particular place. Apparently, men and women could never be just friends. But, Elijah and I were just friends. It had never even occurred to either of us to be anything else. It would be like kissing Damon or Stefan.

"Yes. Just friends." I answer. "We get that a lot, though."

"Where's the dagger?" She suddenly asks, looking around for it.

"I have it, don't worry." I explain and she relaxes a little, but not fully. "He'll wake up soon. I took it out about an hour ago. It takes a while to work."

"You've done this before?" She looks at me with disbelief and fear.

"Elena, you can trust me. I'm on your side." Saying that, I got a little pit in my stomach. That wasn't entirely true. Their plan was to kill Klaus, and there was no way in hell I was going to let that happen. But, I was also not going to let Nik kill Elena. I had no idea what side that put me on, but I would do my best to help my brothers, just like I told them I would. But not at the expense of Nik's life.

"I know. It's just... I don't know much about you." She says in a whisper.

I try to smile kindly. "Well, what do you want to know?" Elena doesn't get the chance to answer because at that moment, Elijah starts to wake up. It happens so suddenly we both jump a little. I know in an instant something is wrong. Elijah is struggling for breath and his body is convulsing in unnatural ways. Elena makes a move to go to him, but I pull her back. "Something's wrong."

"What?" Elena moves behind me while I go to Elijah.

"Something's wrong." I repeat. I rack my brain trying to think of an explanation but I come up empty.

Elijah stands up and says in a rough voice. "I can't breath." He runs at full vampire speed into the cellar wall. I run to grab him and right him. "I can't be in this house."

"You're not invited in." I say after it finally clicks. Elijah runs out of my arms and up the stairs. I chase after him at vampire speed, and Elena follows at a human run behind me. Elijah makes it out of the house, and I see him standing on the porch. "'Lijah, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Grace." He sounds aggravated. "I figured you would be the one to undagger me. Where are those pesky brothers of yours? I am going to rip their hearts out."

"First things first." I step out into the sunny porch and hand him the rest of my blood bag, which he drinks greedily. I see the color come back to his features as he drinks, and the horror I had felt seeing him lying dead in the cellar subsides now that I see he is safe. He angrily throws the now empty blood bag on the ground and turns to look at me for the first time. Elena has come upstairs and she is now standing inside the house, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"Thank you for the blood." He says, ever the gentlemen, and eyes me to see my reaction to his little proclamation that he was going to rip out my brothers' hearts.

"Anytime." I whisper and point upstairs to show that Damon and Stefan are able to hear us. I take out the dagger and show Elijah I have it. "Promise not to hurt my brothers."

"They killed me, Grace!" He whisper-shouts.

"Yeah, well we established long ago that we both had idiotic siblings." I respond. Elijah cracks a smile and I can see he won't kill my brothers. For the moment, at least. I have no qualms as I hand him back the dagger. Once the dagger is in Elijah's hands, I thump him on the back of the head. "That is for not telling me you were in _Mystic Falls_ of all places! With my _brothers_ and a _doppelganger_!"

He rubs the back of his head, which I might have hit a bit harder than originally intended. "Alright, I'll give you that I deserved that one."

"What is going on?" Elena finally speaks up.

"I think it's time we tell them everything." I say to Elijah. He nods his agreement. "Elena, if you invite Elijah in, we'll both tell you everything we know."

Elena considers this for a moment. "You can come in." She says in a normal voice, breaking the whispers of the rest of the conversation.

"Thank you, Elena." Elijah says and we walk into the house.

"Damon! Stefan! You might want to get down here!" I shout loud enough to make sure to wake them up.

After a minute, I hear Stefan making his way downstairs, and Damon calls back, "I'm asleep! What the hell do you want, Grace?!"

"You might want to be more polite when we have company, big brother!" I shout back, and that gets his attention. He comes down the stairs at the same time as Stefan. They are both in their pajamas with serious cases of bedhead.

They both look terrified when they see Elijah. Their eyes widen almost comically and they are at the bottom of the stairs in less than half a second. "He won't hurt you." I tell them, but they do not relax one bit. Damon runs to Elena, grabs her, and runs her a safe distance away from Elijah. I roll my eyes.

"What is going on, Grace? You promised you wouldn't remove the dagger from him." Damon says, anger coloring his tone.

"I fixed your mistake." I say. "Now, there are some things I need to tell you."

"What do you mean?" Stefan looks on edge.

I take a deep breath. "I know more about Klaus than I originally led you to believe."

Damon, Elena, and Stefan share an apprehensive look. They have no idea what to make of me, standing next to Elijah, telling them I lied. I eye Elijah and we start walking to the living room, hoping they'll follow our lead. Elijah and I stand in front of the couch and I signal for them to sit. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you something before we get into this." I turn to Elijah. "What the hell was your endgame here, 'Lijah? We both know you were never going to kill Nik."

" _Nik_?" Damon, Stefan, and Elena say at the same time, in a way that would be almost comical if the situation wasn't so tense.

"We'll get to that in a minute." I hold up a finger to shush them without turning away from Elijah.

Elijah is staring me down when I turn back to him. "How do you know I would not have killed Niklaus? After everything he's done to me!"

"Ok, what has he done to you that's so horrible that you are going to kill your own brother!" I say loudly.

"BROTHER!?" The peanut gallery echoes. They are ignored.

"He killed our siblings! I will never have a family again because of him!" Elijah shouts.

"What are you talking about? They're just daggered! And you cannot tell me that even you would undagger Finn." I retort.

"Well, I will never know, will I?" Elijah looks heartbroken. He had been skirting around this topic with me for years. Always changing the subject whenever it came up. The floodgates are finally opened and I can see exactly how much this has been hurting Elijah. "Niklaus had them buried at sea so no one will ever find their bodies!"

I had not been expecting that. I suddenly feel a weight lift off my chest. The anger from the argument goes away. "Nik did not bury his family at sea. Do you really think him so cruel that he would do that to Rebekah or Kol? To be completely fair, he would do that to Finn, but still..."

"Do you really think so highly of my brother? You need to stop thinking the best of him just because you..."

I quickly cut him off before he can finish that statement. "You don't think I know exactly who is he! All of the things that he's done? I know he is a terrible person. But, I choose to not just see the bad in him. There is good and bad and everyone and to write someone off as just being bad is foolish. Nik did not bury your family at sea." I walk up to him and show him I am not backing down on this one. He starts to see the sincerity in my words, and he lets the truth in.

I see the weight lifted from Elijah. And I know what is going through his mind. Rebekah. He thought he would never see her again, and now he will and I can almost see the relief coming off him. "What was _your_ plan, Grace? Why are you here? You were really going to kill Niklaus?"

"No. I am here to help my brothers out of a bad situation. But, I didn't realize they were so foolish as to try and kill Nik. It caught me off guard. Nik being here caught me off guard." I admit.

"My brother is here?" Elijah says and I nod. At this point, Damon stands up and harshly grabs my arm. I grab it, twist it until he shouts in pain, and sit him back on the couch. He looks like a petulant child who was just put into a time-out.

"Alright, the peanut gallery is getting restless. We should fill them in. What do they know?" I ask Elijah.

He lets out a chuckle. "Not much. And less than they think they do."

"What does that mean?" Damon asks defensively.

"They think Niklaus is trying to break the Curse of the Sun and the Moon." Elijah says with a mischievous glint in his eyes. At that, I have to let out a laugh.

"They do not! Oh, that is rich." I say through my chuckles. "That is precious."

"Alright what is going on!?" Damon finally snaps.

"Why would an Original vampire who can't be hurt by the sun want to break a curse that doesn't affect him? The Curse of the Sun and the Moon is fake. Doesn't exist." I say to shut him up. It works as a dumbfounded expression comes onto his face, as well as Elena's and Stefan's.

"So there's no curse." Elena speaks up and hope is clear in her voice.

"No. There's a curse, it's just not that one." Elijah fills in. "It's a curse placed solely on Niklaus. It keeps his werewolf side from manifesting."

"Werewolf side?" Stefan says. All three of the people on the couch have matching expressions of pure confusion.

"The Originals are a family. Their mother, the Original witch, turned them to protect them against the local werewolves a thousand years ago." I say, then stop and gesture for Elijah to continue. It is his story.

"After we were made immortal, my family discovered the truth that many years earlier my mother had been unfaithful. Niklaus' father was actually one of the local werewolves. My father and my mother had a curse placed on him to prevent my brother from accessing his werewolf side. Niklaus has spent a thousand years trying to find the doppelganger and moonstone in order to break it." Elijah explains.

I interrupt him before he can go any further. "Before we really get into all of this, I just want to say that I love both of you so much."

"That's not a promising start, Grace." Damon says, looking at me with suspicion.

"Well, I'm not going to say I'm sorry for anything I did, because I'm not. So, just know that everything I'm doing now is because you're my brothers and I love you."

At this, Damon and Stefan sit down and shut up, finally ready to listen to the full story. "I met Niklaus Mikaelson in Chicago in Gloria's Bar in 1922. You two don't know this, but ever since we became vampires, I've been checking up on both of you to make sure you were okay. I went to one brother every five years, but I moved checking on Stefan up a few years when I heard Stefan was the Ripper of Monteray." I turned to Stefan. "I tracked you to Gloria's, and I went in after you and sat down at the bar, and then Nik came up to me and bought me a drink and asked me to dance. I didn't know who he was at the time. After a dance, I saw you and decided to break my rule of never letting you see me, and intervene. I would have tied you up and gotten Lexi to get you back to your normal self. But, when I found you, you were drinking some dancer's blood with Rebekah, Nik and Elijah's sister. You were dating."

"I knew another Original?" Stefan struggles to remember what I'm describing. "I don't remember that at all."

"I know." I say softly. "Nik compelled you to forget. It was too dangerous for you to remember."

"Why would it be dangerous?" Stefan asks.

"That I cannot answer." I don't look at Elijah. I know how he is looking at me, and he would have shut me up if I had said anything about Mikael. Not that I would say anything even if Elijah wasn't there. I didn't need them getting any bright ideas about tracking him down. "I can tell you that you and Nik were very close. You called each other 'brother.'"

Stefan is searching his memory, trying to find some long lost memory to validate what I am saying. But, he finds none. "Finish your story." Damon says from beside him.

* * *

 **December 14th 1999**

I woke up feeling somehow off balance. Before I opened my eyes, I noticed that my feet were slightly elevated and I looked down to see why. My feet were on a pillow at the head of the bed, while my head was at the bottom of the bed, where my feet were supposed to be. The previous night came back to me all at once. I remembered the feeling of Nik against me, and how it had just felt so _right_. I felt so at peace just sitting in that bed in his apartment, like the rest of the world didn't exist. It was difficult to describe, but I wanted to see him again, so I got out of the bed and looked around for clothes. I saw the shirt Nik was wearing the night before picked it up so I put my arms through the sleeves and quickly buttoned it.

I heard the shower going, so I started to explore the apartment. It was amazing. Not overly big, but it felt so light and airy. There were large windows and plenty of natural light flowed in. Once in the kitchen, I opened the fridge to look for something to eat. I saw a few blood bags, which I found a bit odd. Nik did not strike me as the blood bag type. He was most definitely the kind of vampire who liked his blood fresh. I shrug it off and grabbed the bag on top and start drinking.

With the blood bag in hand, I walked around the rest of Nik's apartment. I came to a large bookshelf with a mix of old and new books. I studied the titles for a few minutes before coming onto one that looked like it was older than me. A lot older than me. Like one touch and it would disintegrate into dust. I carefully pick it up and open it to the first page. After lazily flipping through a few pages, I realizes that it was a grimoire. Before I have the chance to really explore what kind of spells are in the book, the shower shut off and Nik came out with only a towel wrapped around his waist. That was enough to fully distract me from his book collection. He catches me staring and smirks. "Snooping around my flat, are we?"

I chuckled nervously and replaced the book. "Sorry. I didn't mean to go through your stuff."

"It's fine. I don't keep the truly scary stuff here, anyway." There was a little humor in his voice, but I knew that it was not because the statement was not true. Still in his towel, he went to the kitchen and poured himself a coffee, then he poured me one and handed it to me. "Here you go, love."

"Thanks." I said and took the mug from his hand.

He looked me up and down, eyes finally settling on my legs, making me blush. "I must say, you look much better in that shirt than I ever did."

A nervous giggle escaped my lips. "Thanks." I looked away to hide my blush. "I have to say that I like this look on you."

"Really?" He said seductively and walks towards me. His lips captured mine for a brief moment, over far too soon for my taste.

"Oh, yeah. You should walk around in just a towel all the time." I said and took a sip of the coffee. It was a great cup of coffee, with milk and a little sugar, just the way I liked it. "How'd you know?"

After taking a sip of his own coffee, he asked, "Know what?"

"The coffee. It's perfect." I took another long sip of it. An expression crosses his face that can only be described as sheepish.

"I think we've had enough meals together for me to remember how you take your coffee." He explains. He remembered such an insignificant little detail about me. It was sweet. I hadn't know 'sweet' was in Nik's vocabulary, let alone something he could be. Thinking back, I remembered that he took his coffee black. I guessed I learned more about Niklaus Mikaelson than I'd realized.


End file.
